3 minute Instant Pot applesauce!

Seriously. It only takes 3 minutes to *cook* it! Homemade applesauce can be made quick!

When I have applesauce it makes me think of two people – my grandma and my mom.

As a young girl I got to visit my grandma {she lived to be 101!} a lot, especially during the summertime. She always had applesauce for me – the kind that comes in the jar, with Cinnamon Sugar {remember that stuff, the McCormick® kind}. I loved it, it was our special snack to eat together.

My mom on the other hand only made homemade applesauce. She never bought the packaged kind for me and she only made it with one meal … mac n’ cheese. Yes, macaroni and cheese was a staple for my mom and me.

It was cheap, I loved it, and it filled our bellies. She always made delicious chunky homemade applesauce to go with it. And wait for it … she always added 1-3 Red Hots® {aka cinnamon imperials} to it to add cinnamon flavor.

Yikes! I cringe at the thought of the Red Hots® ingredients now and all of that food dye! But I had no idea about it then. Regardless of that, I love how much LOVE my mom put into what she made for me.

I love that she always made that same meal – mac n’ cheese, with Red Hots® stovetop homemade applesauce and petite peas with butter sauce {yes, the packaged kind}. I miss my mom everyday and love that I have these fond memories of her.

But back to this 3 Minute Instant Pot Applesauce!

I am blown away by how easy + fast + DELICIOUS this applesauce is! I know, I know, fall is over … but we still have tons of apples here. Honestly, it’s the only fruit my Little Love will eat this time of year, so I buy lots of them.

I try and come up with different ways to use apples so my family doesn’t get bored. I can’t eat apples raw, but I can eat them cooked. That’s why I love this applesauce so much.

Not only does it come out absolutely perfect and delectable every time … but I can also control what goes into it. Mine is loaded with lots of organic apples, cinnamon, fresh lemon juice, some healthy pasture butter {healthy fats are really good to pair with fruit}, a little bit of local raw clover honey, and last but not least, a pinch of Celtic sea salt for trace minerals.

Instructions

Wash and prep all of your apples. My family doesn't like the apple skin, so I peel the apples. If you don't mind the skin, by all means leave it on. Quarter all apples and toss them into the Instant Pot stainless steel bowl.

Add butter, cinnamon, honey, lemon juice, sea salt and water into the Instant Pot stainless steel bowl with the apples.

Put the Instant Pot lid on and secure it in the locked position.

Plug in your Instant Pot. Make sure the vent on top of the lid is in the sealed/closed position.

The Instant Pot should be turned on. You'll hear a little sound that it makes.

Press the MANUAL button. The high pressure light should turn red. If not, press manual again to get it to switch from low pressure to high pressure. Then press the "-" sign to decrease the time to say 3.

Walk away from your Instant Pot. Don't worry, it will do it's work. It will end up saying "On" for a while during the "pressure" increasing and heating process. You might see a little steam escape through the top vent area, that's okay. It will only release a little bit. Once it has started to cook, you'll see the number 3 on the screen and it will decrease.

When the Instant Pot is done cooking, it will beep to let you know. At this point you can press the "Keep Warm/Cancel" button and then unplug the Instant Pot.

Again, walk away for about 15 minutes while the Instant Pot releases the pressure. The little silver circle next to the vent will sink back down when it's ready. If you're not sure, using an oven mitt, turn the vent to "venting" - if will release some steam and then the silver circle will drop.

Carefully remove the lid and check out the beauty inside of the pot.

Ladle apples into a high powered blender {my preference} or food processor. If there is a lot of excess liquid leftover in the stainless steel bowl, only use about half of the liquid. Pulse just until fully combined and smooth {you could also use an immersion hand-held blender} - add remaining leftover liquid if needed.

Enjoy warm or cold.

Notes

STORAGE: Store applesauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

PLEASE NOTE: As with all Instant Pot recipes, the Instant Pot takes time to come to full pressure. The *cook time* for this recipe is 3 minutes, but it will take several minutes to come to full pressure depending on many factors like how cold the apples are, etc. It will also take about 15 minutes after cooking to naturally decompress.

Are you on Pinterest? I pin lots of yummy real food recipes + more there. I have a board just for Side Dishes too. Come follow along.

About Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri

Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri is a water kefir- and chocolate-loving, holistic-minded wife and homebirth mom of two little loves. She’s the author of the cookbook The Art of Great Cooking With Your Instant Pot {which ranked #4 in Amazon’s Top 10 New Releases in Gluten Free Recipes} and the founder of Recipes to Nourish, a gluten free blog focusing on real food and natural living. She’s a real foodie, passionate about nourishing home cooking, lover of seasonal food, advocate of "green" living, essential oils and a mindful lifestyle. Emily's recipes, cookbook and/or photography have been featured on feedfeed, foodandwine, Well + Good, Food Republic, Detroit Free Press, Good Day Sacramento, Inside Publications, foodgawker, Sprouts Farmers Market, and in Beautiful Smoothie Bowls. She's a contributing writer at Traditional Cooking School and has written for Delicious Obsessions, Nourished Kitchen, Homemade Mommy, Naturepedic, Live Simply, With Food + Love, Red and Honey, Hybrid Rasta Mama and more. Her passion is to make healthy, natural living as uncomplicated and enjoyable as possible. Find Emily’s latest recipes and natural living tips at Recipes to Nourish. Connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube plus grab her free eBook Holistic Tips to Keep Your Family Healthy.

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I just recently got an Instapot and I can’t wait to try out your apple sauce recipe! 3 minutes! I love it!! I also dearly love apples, and eat at least one a day. Thanks for sharing this dreamy & speedy recipe. ♥

This is such a wonderful recipe we love it at our house just made a large batch and canned it for the season my son eats Apple sauce in his oatmeal and I always put it in his pancakes as well. I usually always also put carrots in the oatmeal and pancakes I think next batch I am going to try to add carrots to the Applesauce. Thank you for sharing

Hi Angie, yes if you’re going to half the amount of apples, I would also half the rest of the ingredients – however, this recipe is very forgiving, so if it’s not exact it’s probably still going to taste great. 🙂

Hi! I just came across this recipe while looking for recipes for my new Instant Pot. I have a wonderful older recipe for applesauce from a newspaper. It adds a vanilla bean, scraped into the apples along with the bean (removed when you’re done and before you puree) and a little grated nutmeg as well. I love the taste, and now I can have it cooked in 3 minutes! What can be better! Thank you.

Hi Jennifer – I usualy make this for myself and eat it throughout a few days of the week – it makes about 1 quart. If you still want to half it, that’s fine too. Yes, I would cut everything in half, only using 1/2 cup water. You could even omit the sweetener if you prefer it to be less sweet. The cook time and NPR will still stay the same. Hope that helps! 🙂